Masumura Attack

[Stephen Cremin]

Last I heard Masumura was going to hit London in October.  When I was in
Tokyo a few years ago I taped the two-part documentary that NHK broadcast
(and presumably made) on　Masumura and I must dig that up.  Wakao Ayako is
interviewed in that if you　don't mind seeing how much the red angel has
changed over the decades.  Married to a famous architect, fashion designer,
or similar.

Stephen

PS: Tony Rayns' curated programme of contemporary Japanese film will be at
the NFT in August.
PPS: Murakami Ryu's Tokyo Decadence was released in London yesterday and got
　reasonable reviews from Evening Standard and Guardian newspapers.  Don't
think it's an official part of Japan 2001...

----------
>From: "Jasper Sharp" <jasper_sharp at hotmail.com>
>To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>Subject: Masumura Attack
>Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2001 14:33:29 -0000
>

>Someone (I believe it was Stephen Cremin) mentioned at the beginning of the 
>year that the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London was planning a large 
>retrospective of the works of Yasuzo Masumura. I was just wondering if 
>anyone had further details of this event. The ICA failed to reply to my 
>email....
>I believe that this director has already had a few retrospectives over the 
>past few years; in Tokyo, Paris and somewhere in the States. I have been 
>eagerly trying to catch up with his work for some time now, because so far 
>my only exposure to this fascinating director has been a non-subtitled copy 
>of MOJU, an Italian dubbed dupe of JOTAI/VIXEN and a French release of AKAI 
>TENSHI/RED ANGEL (at last, a language I understand!) I am really taken with 
>Masumura's visual style, and his rather melodratic approach to the material. 
>He seems to be a rather overlooked figure in World Cinema, especially when 
>you consider that it was his early essays in the late 50s calling for a 
>complete rejection of the then current cinematic traditions in Japan that 
>set Oshima and the whole Noburu Bagu/Japanese New Wave movement in motion. 
>I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it to the London screenings myself, but 
>I'd advise anyone who can to do so.
>
>Jasper Sharp
>Midnight Eye - japan_cult_cinema
>www.midnighteye.com
>
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